A1 English SL World Lit

[Isha]

Hi. I've been trying to work on my World Lit essay, but i keep getting stuck. I think my topic is slightly ambiguous and i was wondering, could anyone please help me narrow it down a bit more?

The two plays im working on are, Ghost's by Henrik Ibsen, and School for Wives by Moliere.

currently my essay topic is something like this: A study of the female characters in Henrik Ibsen's Ghost's and Moliere's School for wives in order to reflect the role of women in their contemporary societies.

The problem is that in School for wives, on one hand he shows the general side of women, while the main female character is completely opposite due to the way she was raised to be completely ignorant and nothing like the women of the society.

Now the problem is that, I'm having trouble in finding a way to link the two different types of women seen in the play along with the character of Mrs Alving in Ghost's.

Any suggestions please?

[sweetnsimple786]

For the wording, I suggest

A study of the female characters in Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and Moliere's School for Wives as a reflection [or maybe comparison?] of the role of women in their contemporary societies.

I haven't read either work, so my advice won't work perfectly, but you could go the route of literary features and examine how both writers portray the female characters you've chosen to look into and how this portrayal affects your interpretation of the writer's message relating to the role of women in society, where it's satirical, ominous, flippant, etc. You could look at diction, narrative style, imagery, symbolism, and/or other relevant features of the works you're studying. Or you could look at the characters' dialogue, actions, and thoughts to compare the women and glean something relating to the role of women in society. I'm not being very specific or thorough here. I haven't read the works, so I can't help specifically. If none of the above is applicable, try making a list of the attributes of the female characters from both works and their quirks and background/history and things they do and believe in so that you can make some kind of comparison.

[Isha]

Sweetnsimple786- Thank you very much. But now, working with what you said, i have one more doubt that needs clarification. The second play, 'School for wives' shows women of the society in a very different way to the character of the main female in the play. Due to this, I was wondering, should I just focus on the women of the general society or should I also include the main female character whose character is very different from that of the women in society in general?

Edited July 14, 2010 by Isha

[sweetnsimple786]

I think you would have to use the main character and maybe call her a foil to the general female population. So you could discuss the main character as the opposite of the everyday woman. This means you'll have more to cover because you have to show characteristics of the central figure and quotations of how the rest of the women aren't the same, but I don't think it would be a good idea to talk about the role of women in society without a specific character or two, and this main character, if you present her as a foil, can give you a lot of focus and detail to work with. Sorry I didn't respond earlier!

[Cynthia]

Sweetnsimple786- Thank you very much. But now, working with what you said, i have one more doubt that needs clarification. The second play, 'School for wives' shows women of the society in a very different way to the character of the main female in the play. Due to this, I was wondering, should I just focus on the women of the general society or should I also include the main female character whose character is very different from that of the women in society in general?

As sweetnsimple786 mentioned definitely include the main character as it is extremely relevant to your topic! I'd say you should also discuss why the author has chosen to make the main character the antithesis to the stereotypical female in the context of the book - how does it influence the treatment of this topic within the play, etc?